WORSHIP 


(jflement  of  SanctiiarD  Strljice. 


REV.  HENRY  DARLING.  D.D. 


REPRINTED  FROM   THi: 

PRESBYTERIAN  QUARTERLY  REVIEW. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM  S.   YOUNG,  PRINTER,  NO.  32  NORTH  SIXTH  STREET, 

1862. 


F-39 


FROM   THE   LIBRARY  OF 
REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

SCO 


if    VMr-- 


WORSHIP 


AS  AN 


(Element  0f  ^aitctuarg  Ser&ice 


REV.  HENRY  DARLING,  D.  D. 


KEPRINTED  FROM  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  QUARTERLY  REVIEW, 


WILLIAM  S.  YOUNG,  PRINTER,  NO.  52  NORTH  SIXTH  STREET, 
PHILADELPHIA: 

1862. 


I 


PREFACE 


This  Article,  from  the  April  Number  of  the  Presbyterian  Quarterly 
Review,  is  issued  in  a  separate  form  by  the  Author,  sunplij  because  of  the 
importance  of  the  subject  it  discusses,  and  in  the  hope  that  its  usefulness 
would  be  increased  by  a  wider  circulation. 

It  is  time  that  those  churches  which  retain  in  their  Sanctuary  service 
the  simplicity  of  Apostolic  times  and  discard  all  medieval  ritualism,  should 
satisfy  those  yearnings  for  "  Worship ^'^  which  some  devout  minds  in  their 
communion  feel,  and  which  lead  them  to  look — occasionally  to  go — else- 
where. That  to  do  this  we  only  need  a  complete  and  full  development  of 
our  oicn  Si/stem,  this  Article  is  an  humhle  attempt  to  show.  That  it  is  far 
from  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject,  no  one  can  feel  more  keenly 
than  the  Author.  So  far  however  as  it  goes,  he  believes  it  to  be  in  the 
right  direction. 


i 


WORSHIP 


The  services  of  God's  house,  as  usually  conJacted,  may  be 
regarded  as  comprising  two  great  elements.  Worship  and  In- 
struciion;  and  although  these  elements  are  mutually  helpful, 
and,  to  some  extent,  interpenetrate  each  other,  yet  they  may, 
in  our  examination,  he  separately  and  distinctly  considered. 
Worship  is  the  act  of  paying  divine  honor  to  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing, and  includes  those  parts  of  divine  service  whereof  Jehovah 
himself  is  the  immediate  object.  Instruction  is  the  communi- 
cation of  knowledge  from  one  mind  to  another,  and  includes 
"whatever  in  the  service  is  the  acting  of  men,  upon  the  autho- 
rity and  commission  of  God,  on  others.  The  first  comprises 
the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  sanctuary;  the  latter  is  limited 
to  the  reading  and  preaching  of  the  word. 

But,  divine  service  composed  of  these  two  elements,  it  is 
plain  that  there  is  a  certain  relation  that  they  ought  always  to 
sustain  to  each  other,  and  that  great  care  should  be  observed 
not  to  give  to  either  an  undue  and  disproportional  prominence. 
In  retiring  from  the  house  of  God  a  congregation  should  feel 
that  they  have  ivorsliipped — that  they  have  given  to  Jehovah 
that  reverence  and  honor  which  are  his  due;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  that  they  have  obtained  some  new  or  clearer  view  of  truth. 
But  how  seldom  are  both  of  these  ends  of  divine  service  at- 
tained? 

lu  the  Romish  Church  the  element  of  worship  has  almost 


entirely  supplanted  that  of  instruction.  The  mass — and  to  this, 
in  countries  purely  papal,  divine  service  is  almost  wholly 
limited — is  nothing  but  a  symbolical  representation  of  the  sa- 
crifice of  Christ,  and  a  great  thank-ofi'ering.  Indeed,  as  the 
ministry,  according  to  the  theory  of  Romanism,  is  a  priesthood, 
and  the  pulpit  an  altar,  there  is  in  the  whole  system  no  place 
for  instruction.  It  is  not  the  business  of  a  papal  ecclesiastic 
to  preach.  He  is  not  a  teacher,  to  instruct  men  in  the  way  of 
righteousness,  but  a  priest,  to  appear  before  God  in  their  be- 
half. And  in  strict  agreement  with  this  theory  of  popery  has 
ordinarily  been  her  practice.  An  old  English  Reformer,  speak- 
ing of  this  Church  in  his  day,  quaintly  remarked,  "  that  if 
there  were  one  vast  gulf  from  Calais  to  Dover,  it  would  not  be 
large  enough  to  contain  its  unpreaching  bishops." 

But,  while  the  Romish  Church  has,  in  the  order  of  her  service, 
gone  to  this  dangerous  extreme  of  excluding  all  instruction,  has 
the  Protestant  Church  been  always  sufficiently  careful  to  retain 
in  her  sanctuary  service  the  element  of  worship?  Has  she  never 
given  an  undue  prominence  to  preaching?  Luther  once  said 
that  "the  greatest  and  most  important  part  of  the  service  of 
God's  house  was  the  preaching  and  teaching  of  the  word ;"  and 
doubtless  the  truth  of  the  remark  all  Protestant  Christians 
would  admit.  The  minister  of  Christ,  under  the  new  dispensa- 
tion, is  not  a  priest,  but  a  teacher,  and  by  making,  in  this  di- 
rection, full  proof  of  his  ministry,  ought  to  give  cause  to  the 
rejoicing  multitude  to  exclaim,  "  How  beautiful  upon  the  moun- 
tains are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  pub- 
lisheth  peace,  that  bringeth  good  tidings  of  good,  that  pub- 
lisheth  salvation."  But  is  this  "most  important  part"  of 
divine  service  its  all?  Was  Luther  right  when,  to  the  remark 
just  quoted,  he  added  "that  wherever  the  word  of  God  is  not 
preached,  it  is  better  neither  to  sing,  nor  to  read,  nor  to  assem- 
ble together."  Of  very  much  church-going,  in  our  day,  the 
only  motive  is  sermon-hearing.  This  is  the  kernel  of  the  service, 
and  around  it  all  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  sanctuary  hang 
as  mere  preparation  and  conclusion.  Men  think  very  little  of 
worship  as  they  enter  a  sanctuary  of  a  Protestant  and  unlitur- 
gical  Church.     They  go  to  it  as  they  would  to  a  scientific  or 


literary  lecture-room,  making  between  the  two  no  essential  dis- 
tinction but  such  as  exists  in  the  topics  that  are  in  both  illus- 
trated and  enforced.  Is  this  an  exaggerated  statement?  Ob- 
serve the  passivity  of  a  congregation  during  the  services  pre- 
liminary to  the  delivery  of  the  discourse — the  readiness  with 
which  they  consent  to  pass  them  over  into  other  hands — the 
strange  irreverence  which  men  often  manifest  in  the  Lord's 
house — and  the  fact  that  the  profit  of  any  service  is  almost  all 
made  to  depend  upon  the  excellence  or  defect  of  the  sermons. 
And  the  existence  of  this  same  idea,  is  it  not  often  apparent 
in  the  mind  of  the  minister  himself?  Does  he  not  frequently 
so  conduct  the  services  of  God's  house  as  to  make  it  simply  a 
school  for  religious  instruction?  A  discourse  elaborately  pre- 
pared and  effectively  delivered,  is  it  not  oftentimes  both  pre- 
ceded and  followed  by  the  most  unstudied  and  inappropriate 
utterances  of  prayer?  Of  how  many  divines,  eloquent  when, 
for  God,  they  speak  to  men,  could  it  be  said,  as  was  said  of  the 
late  Dr.  Griffin,  that  his  most  eloquent  utterances  were  always 
when  for  men  he  spoke  to  God? 

No  one  familiar  with  the  additions  that  have  recently  been 
made  to  our  hymnology  can  have  failed  to  notice  how  subject- 
ive in  their  character  they  generally  are.  They  are  descriptive 
of  some  peculiar  phase  of  the  believer's  inner  life.  To  those 
old  psalms  and  hymns  of  lofty  praise,  that  bore  the  spirit  away 
from  itself,  and  brought  it  to  lie  down,  in  the  deepest  reve- 
rence, before  Jehovah's  throne,  few  additions  have,  in  these 
modern  times,  been  made.  Indeed,  the  element  of  instruction 
in  divine  service,  has  so  absorbed  that  of  worship  as  to  make 
ministers  feel  that  everything  in  the  shape  of  song  must  be 
made  to  bear  directly  upon  the  topic  of  discourse.  We  have 
few  doxologies  in  the  modern  Church.  "We  sing  doctrine,  and 
Christian  experience,  and  stirring  exhortations  to  duty,  more 
than  we  sing  praise. 

It  is,  then,  no  unimportant  subject,  no  subject  devoid  of  prac- 
tical interest,  that  we  propose  to  discuss  in  this  Article.  Our 
theme  is  worship — its  importance  as  an  element  of  sanctuary 
service. 

In  its  illustration,  our  first  argument  will  be  drawn  from  the 


6 

natural  influence  of  worship,  as  we  have  already  briefly  defined 
it.  Worship  exercises  the  aff'ections.  In  those  parts  of  divine 
service  embraced  under  this  division  the  heart  takes  the  lead. 
While  instruction  has  immediate  respect  to  the  understanding 
and  conscience,  worship  has  regard  to  the  emotions  and  aflfec- 
tions  of  the  soul.  God's  character  and  law,  his  efficacious  grace 
and  everlasting  faithfulness,  are  here  made  matters,  not  of  spe- 
culative inquiry,  but  of  taste  and  experience.  "Worship  is 
not  study;  it  is  not  mind  grappling  with  the  severities  of  know- 
ledge, but  it  is  the  heart  breathing  its  wants  into  the  ear  of 
God  in  praise  or  prayer,  or  in  meditating  in  delightful  com- 
placency upon  his  character  and  love."  And  how  happy  the 
eff'ect  of  this  upon  the  soul  must  be,  is  sufficiently  evident  from 
the  single  fact  that  it  is  the  aff'ections,  more  than  either  the 
reason  or  conscience,  that  constitutes  the  life-blood  of  vital 
religion.  The  deep  home  of  sin  is  in  the  heart.  If  this  is 
right,  the  conscience  would  seldom  be  wrong,  and  reason  would 
never  be  driven  from  her  throne.  "None  deny,"  says  Lord 
Bacon,  "  there  is  a  God,  but  those  for  whom  it  maketh  that 
there  was  no  God."  And  all  the  other  forms  of  religious  skep- 
ticism have  the  same  origin.  The  causes  of  infidelity  are  eth  i 
cal,  rather  than  intellectual. 

Moreover,  though  the  truth  is  the  instrument  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  it  does  not  hence  follow  that  the  intellect  alone  has  busi- 
ness with  it,  or  alone  can  rightly  understand  it.  The  heart  has 
much  to  do  with  the  truth.  It  needs  its  impulse  quite  as  much 
as  the  mind  needs  its  light.  When  the  soul  comes  to  employ 
it,  in  intercourse  with  God,  divine  truth  has  a  very  diff'erent 
aspect  from  that  which  it  has  when  simply  examined  in  itself. 
Those  great  and  deep  doctrines  of  revelation  which  men  grap- 
ple with  in  vain,  when,  with  an  undevout  intellect,  they  sit  in 
judgment  upon  them,  lose  much  of  their  power  to  perplex  and 
harass  when  received  with  that  lowliness  of  spirit  which  true 
worship  begets.  Few  men  misunderstand  God  on  their  knees. 
W^hat  a  felicitous  illustration  of  this  thought  is  the  seventy- 
third  Psalm !  The  divine  ways,  intellectually  considered,  brought 
the  Psalmist  into  perplexity.  He  could  not  understand  them. 
The  impenetrable  shade  of  a  dark  cloud  hung  over  them,  and 


all  his  sagacity  in  study  could  not  bring  peace  to  his  mind. 
Hear  his  language:  "But  as  for  me,  my  feet  were  almost 
gone ;  my  steps  had  well  nigh  slipped.  For  I  was  envious  at 
the  foolish,  when  I  saw  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked."  So  soon, 
however,  as  this  mere  speculation  ceased,  and,  in  the  spirit  of 
a  sincere  worshipper,  Asaph  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God, 
and  there  meditated  upon  His  ways,  the  cloud  was  lifted,  the 
enigma  solved,  and  the  Psalm  closes  with  the  satisfied  excla- 
mation, "  It  is  good  for  me  to  draw  near  to  God.  I  have  put 
my  trust  in  the  Lord  God." 

The  late  Dr.  Ebenezer  Porter,  in  his  Lectures  on  Homile- 
tics,  remarks  that  "  the  usefulness  of  a  minister  depends,  in  no 
small  measure,  on  the  character  of  his  public  prayers,"  and 
enforces  this  remark  by  the  following  suggestive  thoughts  upon 
the  influence  of  this  part  of  sanctuary  service:  "When  the  de- 
votions of  the  sanctuary  have  their  proper  effect,  they  prepare 
the  hearers  to  listen,  with  deep  and  solemn  interest,  to  the  in- 
structions delivered  from  the  pulpit.  Just  so  far  as  the  prayer 
in  which  they  have  joined  has  brought  them  io  feel  the  impres- 
sions of  a  present  God  in  the  sanctuary,  and  the  eternal  retri- 
butions to  which  they  are  going,  their  minds  are  divested  of 
listlessness,  and  prejudice,  and  fastidious  criticism,  and  they 
will  hear  a  sermon  with  candor  and  humility.  Besides,  what 
is  it  that  gives  a  sermon  jpower  over  the  hearts  of  hearers?  It 
is  a  solemn  persuasion  that  the  preacher  himself  is  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  everlasting  importance  of  the  truths  which  he 
delivers.  But  how  shall  they  be  thus  persuaded,  unless  the 
thing  is  a  reality?  And  how  shall  the  minister  deeply /ge^  the 
weight  of  truth  in  his  sermon,  if  his  heart  has  been  cold  in  the 
devotional  exercises  which  have  gone  before  it?  The  heart 
which  slumbers  in  speaking  to  God,  and  wakes  up  in  speaking 
to  men,  has  but  a  false  and  factitious  warmth,  which,  in  its 
influence  on  other  hearts,  is  totally  different  from  the  genuine 
glow  of  religious  feeling.  There  may  be  reasons  why  a  man 
should  be  fervent  in  his  devotions,  and  yet  fail  of  delivering  an 
interesting  sermon.  But  the  converse  is  a  much  more  rare  oc- 
currence, namely,  that  the  hearers  are  disappointed  by  an  im- 
pressive and  powerful  sermon  from  the  same  lips  that  had  just 


8 

uttered  a  dull  and  formal  prayer.  If  you  would  be  a  success- 
ful preacher,  you  must  not  fail  essentially  in  public  prayer."* 

But,  passing  the  argument  drawn  from  the  natural  influence 
of  worship  to  show  its  importance  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  ser- 
vice, the  reader  will  notice,  as  illustrating  still  farther  our  sub- 
ject, the  great  prominence  that  was  given  to  worship,  both  in  the 
Jewish  and  ancient  Christian  Church.  The  Roman  Catholic  hie- 
rarchy, modelling  itself  confessedly  from  the  old  temple  of  wor- 
ship of  the  Jews,  is  perfectly  consistent  in  excluding  from  its  ser- 
vice the  element  of  instruction.  When  the  Israelites  went  up  to 
their  temple  at  Jerusalem,  either  at  the  hour  of  daily  prayer 
or  upon  one  of  the  great  feasts  of  their  nation,  it  was  not  to 
listen  to  any  formal  exhibition  of  divine  truth.  There  were, 
indeed,  in  Judea,  prophets;  and  schools  of  the  prophets  were 
established  at  Bethel,  Naioth,  and  Jericho;  and  these  prophets 
were  a  class  of  teachers.  Their  addresses,  however,  were  de- 
livered only  on  extraordinary  occasions,  and  when  some  divine 
afliatus  prompted  them  to  utter  either  an  intimation  of  mercy 
or  a  threatening  of  wrath.  In  the  ordinary  religious  services 
of  the  Jews  there  was  nothing  that  would  at  all  correspond  to 
what,  in  this  day,  we  call  the  preaching  of  the  word.  Every- 
thing was  worship.  All  the  rights  and  ceremonial  observances 
of  both  the  tabernacle  and  the  temple,  while  they  symbolically 
represented  truth,  dimly  shadowed  forth  the  divine  greatness, 
glory,  justice,  grace,  and  thus  indirectly  taught  them,  were 
especially  calculated  and  designed  to  impress  sentiments  of  the 
profoundest  reverence  and  awe  of  Jehovah  upon  every  mind. 
The  Israelites  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship.  Their  song, 
as  they  entered  the  temple,  was,  *'  0  come  let  us  worship  and 
bow  down;  let  us  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  maker."  Indeed, 
so  prominent  was  this  element  of  worship  in  all  the  public  reli- 
gious services  of  the  Jews,  that  it  was  not  until  after  their 
return  from  captivity  in  Babylon,  and  the  establishment  of 
synagogues,  that  even  the  reading  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures became  with  them  a  regular  part  of  any  service. 

How  prominent,  also,  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  service, 
was  worship  in  the  early  Christian  Church!     Modelled  after 

*  Porter's  Lectures  on  Homiletics,  p.  293. 


9 

the  Jewish  synagogue,  both  as  to  its  officers  and  the  order  of 
its  services,  primitive  Christians  did  not,  indeed,  exclude  in- 
struction from  their  holj  assemblies.  Portions  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, of  the  Gospel,  and  of  the  apostolic  epistles  were  read 
at  all  their  public  religious  meetings.  But  this,  with  them, 
formed  almost  all  the  instruction  of  the  sanctuary.  Mosheim 
asserts  that  it  was  sometimes  literally  all^  and  that  frequently 
no  sermon  followed  this  reading  of  the  Scriptures.^  Neander, 
however,  is,  we  suppose,  more  true  to  history,  when  he  says 
that  "this  reading  was  followed  by  a  short  and  very  simple  ad- 
dress, in  familiar  language,  such  as  the  heart  prompted  at  the 
moment,  and  which  contained  an  exposition  or  application  of 
what  had  been  read."t  It  is  in  the  writings  of  Justin  Martyr, 
that  we  find  the  first  mention  of  a  Christian  sermon,  and  very 
little  is  there,  in  his  language,  to  identify  it  with  a  modern 
pulpit  discourse:  "After  the  reading  is  ended,  the  minister  of 
the  assembly  makes  an  address,  in  which  he  admonishes  and 
exhorts  the  people  to  imitate  the  virtues  which  it  enjoins."* 
"It  was,"  says  the  same  distinguished  historian  already  quoted, 
(Neander,)  "among  the  Greeks,  who  were  more  given  to  the 
culture  of  rhetoric,  that  the  sermons  first  began  to  take  a  wider 
range,  and  to  assume  an  important  place  in  the  acts  of  wor- 
ship." 

But  to  illustrate  the  prominence  that  worship,  as  an  element 
of  sanctuary  service,  had  in  the  early  Church,  there  is  per- 
haps nothing  so  impressive  as  the  simple  presentation  of  its' 
order  of  service,  or,  in  other  words,  a  glance  at  its  "Directory 
for  AYorship."  And  remembering  that  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  formed  a  part  of  every  public  religious  service 
among  the  primitive  disciples  of  Christ,  we  may  take  the  fol- 
lowing as  a  truthful  statement  of  their  mode  of  conducting  di- 
vine worship.  "We  quote  again  from  Justin  Martyr:  "On  the 
day  which  is  called  Sunday,  there  is  an  assembly  in  one  place 
of  all  who  dwell  either  in  towns  or  in  the  country,  and  the  me- 


*  Ancient  Christianity  Exemplified,  p.  348. 
t  Xeander's  Church  History,  Vol.  I.,  p.  303. 


10 

moirs  of  the  apostles,  or  the  writings  of  the  prophets,  are  read, 
as  long  as  time  permits.  Then,  when  the  reader  has  ceased, 
the  President  delivers  a  discourse,  in  which  he  reminds  and  ex- 
horts them  to  the  imitation  of  all  these  good  things.  We  then 
all  stand  up  and  offer  our  prayers.  Then,  as  we  have  already 
said,  when  we  cease  from  prayer,  bread  is  brought,  and  wine 
and  water;  and  the  President,  in  like  manner,  offers  up  prayers 
and  praises,  according  to  his  ability,  and  the  people  express 
their  assent  by  saying,  Amen.  The  consecrated  elements  are 
then  distributed  and  received  by  every  one,  and  a  portion  is 
sent  by  the  deacons  to  those  who  are  absent."* 

But,  again,  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  service,  the  impor- 
tance of  worship  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  special  and  ample 
provision  for  its  maintenance  that  God  has  made  in  his  word. 
While  the  Bible  is  doubtless  intended  principally  to  be  a  reve- 
lation of  the  divine  will  to  man,  and  contains  a  didactic  state- 
ment of  those  doctrines  and  facts,  important  for  men  to 
know,  but  which  natural  religion  is  unable  to  disclose,  it 
is  still  interesting  to  observe  how  large  a  portion  of  it  is 
adapted  for  purposes  of  devotion,  and  seems  for  this  end  main- 
ly to  have  been  written.  Instead  of  being  altogether  an  ab- 
stract and  objective  treatise  on  religion,  God's  word  is  full  of 
the  effusions  of  subjective  piety.  With  the  great  doctrines  it 
teaches,  are  devout  prayers,  hymns  of  praise,  and  narratives  of 
religious  experience.  Indeed,  whole  chapters,  and  even  books 
'of  this  character,  may  be  found  in  the  sacred  volume.  These 
contain  very  little  direct  instruction.  What  they  teach  is  in- 
cidental and  secondary.  Their  grand  purpose  is  to  meet  the 
wants,  in  all  ages,  of  Christian  devotion.  They  are  the  in- 
spired breathings  of  pious  hearts,  and  are  preserved  in  the  sa- 
cred canon  as  the  food  for  the  devotion  of  God's  people  in  all 
ages  of  the  Church. 

The  book  of  Psalms  is  a  most  striking  illustration  of  this  re- 
mark. It  is,  what  its  title  indicates,  the  praises  of  the  Lord. 
It  is  an  epitome  of  the  whole  Bible,  adapted  to  purposes  of  de- 


*  Justin  Mar.  Apol.,  p.  8' 


11 

votion.  For  doctrinal  instruction,  men  do  not  ordinarily  resort 
to  it.  When  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  (A.  D.  1229,)  prohibited 
the  Bible  to  laymen,  they  excepted  the  Book  of  Psalms.  It 
was  not  sufficiently  didactic  to  awaken  the  fears  of  the  Papacy; 
yet,  in  its  language,  have  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  Church 
been  for  ages  ascending  to  God.  "That  which  we  read,"  says 
Bishop  Home,  "as  a  matter  of  speculation,  in  the  other  Scrip- 
tures, is  reduced  to  practice  when  we  recite  it  in  the  Psalms: 
in  those  repentance  and  faith  are  described,  but  in  these  they 
are  acted;  by  a  perusal  of  the  former,  we  learn  how  others 
served  God;  but  by  using  the  latter  we  serve  him  ourselves. 
The  book  is  like  the  paradise  of  Eden.  It  affords  us,  in  per- 
fection, though  in  minature,  everything  that  groweth  elsewhere, 
"every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food," 
and,  above  all,  what  was  there  lost,  is  here  restored — the  tree 
of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden.*  And  of  the  same  import  are 
these  words  of  Calvin,  in  the  preface  of  his  Exposition  of  the 
Psalms:  "Other  portions  of  the  Scriptures  contain  command- 
ments,  whose  transmission  the  Lord  enjoined  upon  his  servants ; 
but  in  the  Psalms  the  prophets,  communing  with  God,  and  un- 
covering their  inmost  feelings,  call  and  urge  every  reader  to 
thanksgiving  and  praise. 

The  Sacred  Scriptures,  then,  we  assert,  comprise  precisely 
the  same  great  elements  that  we  have  seen  belonging  to  the  ser- 
vices of  God's  house.  One  portion  was  designed  for  instruction, 
another  for  worship.  We  go  to  the  Epistles  for  doctrine,  and 
to  the  Psalms  for  devotion;  and  just  as  both  are  important 
parts  of  God's  word,  and  as  that  word  could  not  be  complete 
should  either  be  wanting,  so,  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary, 
men  should  worship  God — they  should  bow  down  and  kneel  be- 
fore the  Lord  their  Maker,  as  well  as  listen  to  the  teachings  of 
his  word. 

But  once  more,  to  illustrate  the  importance  of  worship  as  an 
element  of  sanctuary  service,  observe  the  evils  that  result  from 
its  neglect,  or  from  failing  to  give  to  it  its  true  place.     The 

*  Home's  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  Vol.  I.,  p.  2. 


12 

most  casual  observer  cannot  fail  to  notice,  in  the  external  de- 
meanor of  a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant  congregation,  a  contrast 
that  is  not  always  creditable  to  the  latter.  Charge  what  er- 
rors in  doctrine  and  practice  he  may  upon  the  Papal  Church — 
and  these,  we  acknowledge,  are  both  numerous  and  weighty — 
it  must  still  be  conceded  that  it  is,  seemingly  at  least,  more 
obedient  to  that  command,  "Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to 
the  house  of  God,"  than  many  other  Churches  that  hold  a  more 
scriptural  faith.  And  while,  for  this,  one  reason  is,  unques- 
tionably, a  mistaken  notion  of  the  peculiar  sanctity  of  the 
place  in  which  divine  service  is  held — arising  from  the  idea  that 
the  true  shekinah  is  in  an  earthly  temple,  and  not  in  the  indi- 
vidual heart,  another  is  the  great  prominence  which  it  gives 
to  the  element  of  worship  in  all  its  religious  exercises.  Let  a 
Protestant  congregation,  as  it  enters  the  sanctuary,  feel  that 
something  more  than  mere  sermon-hearing  has  convened  them ; 
let  them  realize  that,  as  a  company  of  dependent  and  guilty 
creatures,  they  have  came  together  to  worship  that  Divine 
Being  who,  is  the  author  of  all  their  blessings,  and  who  is  alone 
able  to  remit  to  them  the  guilt  of  their  sins;  and  who  can 
doubt  but  a  change,  most  happy,  would  be  wrought  upon  their 
whole  external  deportment?  To  regard  the  sanctuary  simply 
as  a  place  of  instruction,  is  at  once  to  place  it  on  a  level  with 
the  scientific  or  literary  lecture-room — save  that  in  the  former 
the  theme  of  the  speaker's  discourse  is  more  important  than  in 
the  latter.  No  wonder  that,  with  such  views  of  God's  bouse, 
men  are  oftentimes  indifferent  as  to  whether  they  are  present 
at  the  commencement  of  its  services  or  not;  are  so  listless 
during  part  of  its  exercises  as  to  need  something  to  recall 
their  fugitive  minds  to  them, — as  did  the  bells  tied  to  the  high- 
priest's  garments  between  the  pomegranates  among  the  Jews, 
and  which  rang  upon  the  least  movement  of  his  person  ;  and  so 
frequently  employ  the  last  moments  of  the  service  in  prepara- 
tion for  a  speedy  departure.  Men  must  feel  that  "the  Lord  is 
in  his  holy  temple,"  and  that  they  have  come  up  thither  to  meet 
and  to  worship  Him,  before  they  will  keep  silence  in  His  pre- 
sence.    As  it  was  the  vision  of  God,  in  the  fire  that  enveloped 


13 

the  bush  on  Horeb,  and  the  voice  of  Jehovah  that  proceeded 
from  it,  that  led  Moses  to  put  off  the  shoes  from  his  feet,  and 
to  stand  in  holj  awe  before  it, — so  it  is  the  voice  and  vision  of 
the  same  Jehovah,  in  his  house,  that  will  alone  produce  in  man 
that  reverence  which  becomes  the  sanctuary. 

And  to  the  same  cause  do  we  attribute  much  of  that  critical 
spirit  which  men  so  often  bring  with  them  into  God's  house. 
With  the  idea  of  worship  uppermost,  or  even  prominent,  in  the 
mind  of  a  congregation,  what  though  the  speaker  drop  an  unhand- 
some word,  though  his  style  have  not  all  the  mellifluent  flow  of 
the  schools,  and  his  discourse  will  not  bear  the  test  of  a  rigid 
criticism?  God  is  still  in  his  house.  Indeed,  the  thought  of 
coming  up  into  the  sanctuary  to  meet  God,  to  adore  him  for  all 
his  matchless  perfections,  and  to  receive  his  benediction,  how 
does  it  not  only  disarm  criticism,  but  lead  us  even  to  forget 
that  there  is  any  thing  human  in  the  services  to  criticise  I  To 
come  up  into  God's  house,  simply  to  hear  a  sermon  or  two,  ends 
frequently  only  in  the  censure  or  laudation  of  the  preacher; 
but  to  go  up  into  that  same  sanctuary  to  worship  God,  has,  as 
its  natural  result,  enlarged  conceptions  of  the  greatness  of  the 
preacher's  God. 

Irregularity  likewise  of  attendance  upon  God's  house,  and 
that  attendance  graduated  by  the  character  of  the  expected 
discourse,  is  among  the  evils  that  forgetfulness  of  worship,  as 
an  element  of  sanctuary  service,  has  a  tendency  to  produce. 
Some  of  our  oldest  and  wisest  divines  have  remarked,  that 
there  seems  to  be  of  late,  even  among  the  professed  followers 
of  Christ,  a  far  lower  sense  of  obligation,  with  reference  to  the 
attendance  upon  God's  house,  than  formerly.  Many  Chris- 
tians now  permit  very  trivial  causes  to  keep  them  from  filling 
their  place  in  the  sanctuary.  They  regard  church-going  rather 
as  a  privilege  than  a  duty,  and  are  quite  satisfied  if  they  avail 
themselves  of  it  occasionally,  or,  at  the  most,  upon  a  part  only 
of  the  Sabbath.  And  is  not  this  the  necessary  result  of  that 
theory  or  practice  of  sanctuary  service  which  wholly  ignores 
the  element  of  worship?  If  the  church  is  man's  church,  and 
the   leading   conception   in    the  mind   is    the   listening   to  a 


14 

set  discourse,  is  it  strange  that  men  deem  it  a  matter  of 
little  moment  whether  they  attend  regularly  upon  its  ser- 
vices? Ay,  more;  if  spiritual  instruction  constitute  the  very 
essence  of  a  sanctuary  service — if  we  are  to  go  to  God's 
house  alone  to  be  taught  divine  truth — why  should  not  a  man 
stay  away  from  it,  when  at  home,  by  his  own  meditations  or 
reading,  he  honestly  believes  that  that  spiritual  enlightenment 
would  best  be  promoted?  That  God  should  be  adored,  and  that 
this  adoration  should  have  some  outward  expression,  all  men 
instinctively  feel.  Satisfy  them,  then,  that  this  is  the  great 
aim  of  sanctuary  service,  and  they  will  not  so  often,  and  for 
causes  so  trivial,  desert  it.  And  are  not  Protestant  and  un- 
liturgical  churches  just  here  in  great  danger  of  losing  their  hold 
upon  the  unsanctified  masses?  With  the  Church  nothing  but 
a  school,  can  all  the  teachers  be  so  eloL^uent,  or  any  one  always 
so  eloquent,  as  to  receive,  on  the  part  of  voluntary  pupils,  con- 
stant and  unvaried  attendance?  Apart  from  the  direct  out- 
pouring of  the  Divine  Spirit,  we  do  not  believe  that  any  thing 
would  be  more  effectual  in  enlarging  Sabbath  congregations, 
and  making  them  more  uniform  in  numbers,  than  an  increased 
attention  to  worship  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  service. 

It  only  remains  on  this  part  of  our  subject,  that  we  should 
invite  the  careful  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  excellent  stan- 
dards of  our  Church;  for  all  that  we  have  said  upon  the  im- 
portance of  worship,  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  service,  is  in 
them  strikingly  confirmed  and  enforced.  The  holy  men  of  God 
who  framed  "the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church," 
believed  in  the  true  theory  of  worship.  They  never  regarded 
the  house  of  God  as  a  mere  place  for  instruction.  On  the  con- 
trary, fearing  that  this  might  be  the  tendency  of  a  rigid  sim- 
plicity and  careful  avoidance  of  all  forms,  they  solemnly  warned 
us  against  this  error.  In  the  sixth  chapter  of  our  Directory 
for  Worship — a  chapter  entitled,  "  Of  the  Preaching  of  the 
Word" — and  in  the  fifth  section,  we  read:  "As  one  primary 
design  of  public  ordinances  is  to  pay  social  acts  of  homage  to 
the  Most  High  God,  ministers  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  make 
their  sermons  so  long  as  to  interfere  with  or  exclude  the  more 
impoj'tant  duties  of  prayer  and  praise^  but  preserve  a  just  pro- 


15 

portion  between  the  several  parts  of  public  worship."  Again, 
in  the  chapter  entitled  "Of  the  Singing  of  Psalms,"  (chap.iv.,) 
we  have  the  following  pertinent  suggestion  (section  iv. :)  "The 
proportion  of  the  time  of  public  worship  to  be  spent  in  singing 
is  left  to  the  prudence  of  every  minister ;  but  it  is  recommended 
that  more  time  be  allowed  for  this  excellent  part  of  divine  ser- 
vice, than  has  been  usual  in  most  of  our  churches."  And  si- 
milar statements  may  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  Public  Prayer 
(chap.  V.:)  "It  is  the  indispensable  duty,"  we  read,  "of  every 
minister,  previously  to  his  entering  on  his  office,  to  prepare  and 
qualify  himself  for  this  part  of  his  duty,  as  well  as  for  preach- 
ing. He  ought,  by  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  by  reading  the  best  writers  on  the  subject,  by  medi- 
tation, and  by  a  life  of  communion  with  God  in  secret,  to  en- 
deavor to  acquire  both  the  spirit  and  the  gift  of  prayer.  Not 
only  so,  but  when  he  is  to  enter  on  particular  acts  of  worship, 
he  should  endeavor  to  compose  his  spirit,  and  to  digest  his 
thoughts  for  prayer,  that  it  may  be  performed  with  dignity  and 
propriety,  as  well  as  to  the  profit  of  those  who  join  in  it,  and 
that  he  may  not  disgrace  that  important  service,  by  mean,  vul- 
gar, or  extravagant  effusions." 

But  from  this  view  of  the  importance  of  worship,  as  an  ele- 
ment of  sanctuary  service,  it  is  time  that  we  should  pass  to  the 
inquiry.  How  may  our  ideal  be  realized?  How — supposing 
worship  with  us  to  have  somewhat  fallen  out  of  its  true  place  in 
the  order  of  God's  house — may  it  therein  be  reinstated?  And 
that  wc  may  not  be  misunderstood  in  any  thing  that  we  have 
already  said,  let  it  here  be  distinctly  remarked,  that  this  end 
is  not  to  be  obtained  by  any  decrease  in  our  sanctuary  service 
of  the  element  of  instruction,  nor  yet  by  the  subordination  of 
preaching  to  worship.  This,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  a  cor- 
ollary from  the  erroneous  doctrine  of  the  priestly  character 
of  the  Christian  ministry.  Indeed,  instead  of  lowering  the 
standard  of  preaching,  even  intellectually  considered,  every- 
thing should  be  done  to  elevate  it.  Men  called  to  be  the  he- 
ralds of  salvation,  should  pour  into  their  discourses  the  richest 
treasures  of  their  learning,  and  seek,  as  vigorous  intellectual 
exercises,  to  command  attention  for  their  sermons.     In  this 


16 

age,  when  even  the  common  mind  gains  a  power  of  sustained 
thought,  on  religious  subjects,  which  it  has  not  on  any  other, 
and  is  thus  possessed  "with  an  intelligence  that  outruns  its 
culture,"  it  will  not  do  for  the  minister  of  Christ,  in  his  pulpit 
labors,  to  satisfy  himself  with  unpremeditated  utterances.  The 
people  demand  strong  thought.  They  crave  argument.  Their 
earnest  souls  will  not  be  content  with  mere  rhetorical  tinsel. 
They  will  listen  and  for  awhile  be  pleased  with  the  gay  fancies 
that  play  over  the  surface  of  a  discourse;  but  unless,  beneath 
all  this,  there  is  the  substratum  of  real  and  vigorous  thought, 
their  pleasure  will  be  as  ephemeral  as  their  profit. 

Nor  would  it  be  difficult  here  to  show  that  wherever  real  re- 
ligion has  decayed,  it  has  uniformly  been  marked  by  a  corre- 
sponding declension,  both  in  the  character  and  amount  of 
preaching.  The  priestly  theory  of  ministerial  character,  even 
in  its  most  attenuated  form — that  form  which  has  been  admit- 
ted into  the  constitution  of  some  Protestant  churches — as  it 
elevates  the  altar  above  the  pulpit,  has  always  been  connected 
with  a  weak  and  emasculated  Christianity.  It  is  not,  then,  to 
any  rivalry  with  instruction  that  we  would  bring  worship.  We 
have  no  aim  to  weaken  in  any  mind  the  importance  of  preach- 
ing, in  our  efforts  to  magnify,  in  the  esteem  of  the_  Church, 
other  portions  of  her  service. 

But,  again,  to  give  worship  its  true  place  in  the  services  of 
God's  house,  let  no  one  suppose  that  the  adoption  of  a  liturgy, 
or  the  assumption  of  an  ecclesiastical  dress,  is  either  necessary  or 
expedient.  That  there  is,  at  this  day,  a  tendency  in  the  Church 
generally  toward  a  liturgical  service,  will,  we  suppose,  be  univer- 
sally conceded.  We  see  it  in  the  revision  by  some  Churches  of 
their  old  and  long  disused  formularies  of  worship,  in  the  re- 
print of  the  difi'erent  liturgies  of  the  Reformers,  and,  perhaps, 
we  may  add,  in  the  increased  popularity  of  the  ritual  sects. 
And  the  main  cause  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  same  feeling 
that  prompts  the  writing  of  this  Article.  As  men  enter  the 
sanctuary,  and  go  with  an  unliturgical  denomination  through 
its  services,  they  oftentimes  feel  that  something  is  wanting — 
that  the  necessities  of  the  soul  have  not  been  fully  met;  that 
they  have  not  worshipped  God ;  and  attributing  this  to  the 


17 

simplicity  of  the  service,  and  to  the  entire  absence  of  all  forms, 
they  at  once  conclude  that  what  the  service  wants  for  its  com- 
pletion is  nothing  more  than  the  presence  of  a  prescribed  and 
imposing  ceremonial.  But  it  is  not  so  with  us.  Sharing  some- 
what in  this  feeling  of  the  want  of  worship  in  our  sanctuary 
service,  we  have  no  idea  that  the  want  is  to  be  satisfied  in  the 
manner  proposed.  We  think  we  see  a  more  excellent  way  than 
this. 

In  favor  of  the  use  of  liturgies,  it  may,  indeed,  be  truthfully 
said,  that  all  the  Reformed  Churches  in  the  sixteenth  century 
employed  them,  to  some  extent.  Formularies  of  worship  were 
composed  by  Melanchthon,  Calvin,  Bucer,  and  Knox,  and  were, 
in  their  respective  churches,  continued  for  many  years  in  con- 
stant observance.  But  their  use  was  optional,  and  that  only 
in  parts  of  the  service,  combined  with  extempore  prayer  in 
other  parts.  For  the  precedents  which  are  to  control  our  con- 
duct in  this  matter,  we  choose  to  go  still  further  back  in  the 
history  of  the  Church.  "We  look  to  apostolic  usage,  and  surely 
there  is  nothing  in  it  that  would  incline  us  for  one  moment  to 
the  use  of  liturgical  forms.  Indeed,  there  is  something  that 
csavors  not  a  little  of  the  ridiculous  in  the  very  thought  of  Paul 
carrying  with  him,  in  his  itinerancy,  ''prayer-book  and  gown," 
and  essaying  to  preach  only  when  provided  with  these  helps  and 
adornments  of  worship.  ''Sine  monitore,  quia  de  'pectore  ora- 
mus,''  are  the  well-known  words  of  Tertullian,  and  doubtless 
express  the  universal  usage  of  the  primitive  Church.  It  was 
not  until  the  fifth  century  that  forms  of  prayer  were  prescribed 
by  public  authority.* 

^  "When  the  Arian  and  Pelagian  doctrines  began  seriously  to  disturb 
the  Church,  various  forms  of  expression,  occasioned  by  public  controversy, 
gradually  insinuated  themselves  into  the  language  of  prayer;  and  it  was 
deemed  necessary  by  the  Council  of  Laodicea  to  require,  by  ecclesiastical 
regulations,  that  ministers,  instead  of  using  the  liberty  before  enjoyed, 
should  always  keep  to  one  form  of  prayer;  that  is,  should  not  pray  'pro 
arbitrio,  sed  semper  easdem  preces.'"  This  form,  however,  each  minister 
might  compose  for  himself,  provided  that  *  before  using  it,  he  should  con- 
sult with  learned  and  experienced  brethren.'  This  regulation  was  ex- 
plained as  already  in  existence,  by  the  Council  of  Carthage,  A.  0.397- 
About  twenty  years  after  this,  in  416,  the  Council  of  Milan  ordained  that 
none  should  use  set  forms  of  prayer,  except  such  as  were  approved  in  a 
Synod. — Porter's  Lectures,  p.  285. 


18 

Moreover,  although  it  has  been  said  "that  the  adoption  of  a 
liturgy  is  peculiarly  consonant  with  the  spirit  and  usage  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  inasmuch  as  it  is  characterized  by  strict 
and  scrupulous  adherence  to  established  formulas  of  doctrine 
and  discipline,"  we  venture  to  affirm  that  the  very  opposite 
is  true.  Its  *' spirit"  is  that  of  the  largest  liberty  consistent 
with  order  and  truth.  It  seeks  to  bind  the  faith  of  men  only 
to  the  great  essentials  of  doctrine.  It  builds  up  no  high  fence 
of  exclusion  around  either  the  pulpit  or  the  communion-table. 
Men,  '' holding  the  Head,"  are  freely  welcome  to  both.  It  is 
emphatically  a  missionary  Church,  and  cannot,  therefore,  so 
cumber  itself  with  burdensome  rites,  as  to  be  unadapted  to  the 
necessities  of  a  simple  people  and  a  widely  scattered  population. 
It  is  not  a  Church  for  great  cities  only,  where  all  the  factitious 
adornments  of  worship  may  be  easily  had,  but  it  is  a  Church  for 
all  men,  wherever  God  in  his  providence  may  cast  their  lot. 
It  is  a  Church,  indissolubly  connected,  in  all  its  history  with 
revivals  of  religion;  and  this  its  distinctive  spirit  would  go 
out  of  it,  the  very  moment  that  we  attempted  to  tie  it  down  to 
the  rigidity  of  a  pre-composed  service.  Nor  is  it  true  that  the 
adoption  of  a  liturgy  is  consonant  with  the  "usage"  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  It  was  when  John  Knox's  "Book  of 
Common  Order"  was  generally  used  in  the  Scottish  Kirk,  that 
the  Westminster  Assembly  prepared  our  excellent  "Directory 
for  Worship,"  and  in  that  we  have  the  following  direct  testimony 
against  the  adoption  of  a  liturgical  service:  "We  do  not  ap- 
prove, as  is  well  known,  of  confining  ministers  to  set  or  fixed 
forms  of  prayer"  (chap,  v.,  sect,  iv.)  Shortly  after  this,  writ- 
ten forms  of  prayer  were  laid  aside  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Scotland,  and  have  never  since  been  adopted. 

In  our  earnest  desire,  then,  to  give  to  worship  a  larger  place  in 
our  sanctuary  service  than  it  now  holds,  let  it  distinctly 
be  understood  that  we  have  no  sympathy  with  that  class  of 
minds  among  us,  who  are  continually  hankering  after  a  ritual, 
and  who  make  themselves  the  small  imitators  of  other  denomi- 
nations than  their  own.  No;  away  with  prayer-book  and 
gown,  rubrics  and  bands!  Associations  of  the  mystical  Baby- 
lon still  cluster  around  them.     Give  us  a  free  voice  and  a  free 


19 

arm,  as  we  attempt  to  direct  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary.  Let 
the  full  soul  pour  out  itself  in  gracious  expressions  of  its  holy 
thoughts  into  the  bosom  of  the  Almighty;  and  if  there  should 
be  some  stops  or  solecisms  in  the  fervent  utterance  of  our  wants, 
these  are  so  far  from  being  offensive,  that  they  are  the  most 
pleasing  music  to  the  ears  of  that  God  unto  whom  our  prayers 
'come.  To  this  imperfect  elocution,  our  Heavenly  Father  is  no 
otherwise  affected,  than  an  indulgent  earthly  parent  is  to  the 
clipped  and  broken  language  of  his  dear  child. 

But  if  our  ideal  of  the  importance  of  worship,  as  an  element 
of  sanctuary  service,  is  to  be  realized,  neither  by  the  subordi- 
nation to  it  of  preaching,  nor  yet  by  the  adoption  of  a  liturgy — 
what,  the  inquiry  returns  to  us,  can  we  do  toward  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  end?  In  reply,  we  will  direct  our  remarks 
to  those  parts  of  the  services  of  God's  house  that  may,  with 
some  propriety,  be  arranged  under  the  head  of  worship — viz., 
its  praises  and  prayers.' 

And  first,  with  reference  to  the  praises  of  God's  house:  We 
have  already  remarked  upon  the  character  of  almost  all  the 
additions  which  have  recently  been  made  to  the  hymnology  of 
the  Church.  Many  of  them  are  experimental.  They  faithful- 
ly and  sometimes  touchingly  describe  some  inward  struggle  of 
the  soul.  Others  are  supplicatory.  They  are  prayers,  in  verse. 
A  few  are  hortatory.  They  are  stirring  appeals  to  repentance 
or  to  Christian  activity.  And,  still  again,  some  are  doctrinal. 
Their  aim  is  to  teach  or  impress  upon  the  mind  some  great 
truth  of  religion.  But  where  in  this  catalogue,  are  the  distinc- 
tively objective  hymns — the  hymns  in  which  both  writer  and 
reader  come  entirely  out  of  themselves,  magnify  God,  and  have 
their  whole  souls  ravished  by  the  conception  of  His  matchless 
perfections  ?  That  these  experimental  and  supplicatory  hymns 
are  greatly  needed  in  the  Church — indeed,  that  we  cannot  per- 
mit them  to  die,  we  readily  concede.  But  their  proper  place 
is  it  not  the  closet,  rather  than  the  sanctuary;  and  the  social 
meeting  of  believers,  rather  than  the  great  congregation  of  the 
people?  Should  we  take  the  Book  of  Psalms  as  our  model,  as 
we  certainly  ought  to  do,  we  would  not,  indeed,  exclude  all  ex- 
perimental hymns  from  our  sanctuary  services,  for  many  of  the 


20 

Psalms  are  the  narratives  of  the  writers'  experience;  but  cer- 
tainly this  class  would  be  far  fewer  in  number  than  those  which 
summon  us  to  lofty  praise.  "With  David  as  our  example,  we 
would  sing  not  so  much  of  ourselves  as  of  God. 

But  the  character  of  the  recent  additions  to  our  hymnology, 
fairly  indicates  the  character  of  our  Church  praise.  Indeed, 
it  is  the  demand  which  ministers  have  made  for  this  class  of 
hymns  that  has  occasioned  their  large  supply.  Our  books  fast 
filling  up  with  them,  they  are  fast  becoming  the  staple  of  our 
songs.  It  is  now  a  rare  thing,  in  some  of  our  congregations, 
to  be  invited  to  unite  in  a  single  Psalm  or  hymn  that  is  dis- 
tinctively one  of  praise.  If  the  preacher  design  to  discourse 
to  us  upon  some  point  of  doctrinal  theology,  or  to  present  us 
with  some  peculiar  phase  of  religious  experience,  or  to  exhort 
the  impenitent  at  once  to  come  to  Christ  as  their  Saviour,  he 
seeks  in  all  his  psalmody  to  enforce  his  teachings.  And  the 
necessary  result  of  this,  must  it  not  be  to  make  the  Church  a 
school,  and  to  eliminate,  from  all  its  service,  the  element  of 
worship  ?  And  with  this  character  of  the  hymns  of  the  Church, 
will  its  music,  of  course,  correspond;  and  hence,  in  the  place 
of  those  old  choral  tunes  which,  swelling  up  to  heaven  with 
the  sweet  accord  of  many  voices,  went  down  into  the  very  depths 
of  the  soul,  awakening  its  deepest  and  strongest  emotions — we 
have  sometimes  dry  and  business-like  airs,  suited  for  didactic 
verse,  and  anon  sentimental  songs,  artistically  executed,  by  a 
select  few. 

Moreover,  to  the  element  of  worship,  in  that  part  of  the  ser- 
vices of  God's  house  which  we  are  now  considering,  nothing  is 
more  fatal  than  that  entire  passivity  which  ordinarily  obtains 
in  our  congregations.  Where  the  singing  is  done  by  proxy, 
there  can  be,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  no  suitable  worship. 
All  choirs  that  are  not  the  simple  leaders  of  the  congregation 
in  sacred  song,  are  ruinous  to  devotion.  The  idea  that  any 
Church  worships  God  in  its  music,  when  this  is  performed 
wholly  by  a  company  of  hired  singers,  is  perfectly  preposterous. 
If  any  of  our  readers  regard  this  language  as  extravagant,  let 
them  observe  for  a  moment  the  contrast,  when  after  the  closing 
hymn  of  a  religious  service,  artistically  sung  in  some  unknown 


21 

strains  by  a  select  choir,  the  whole  congregation  rise  and  unite 
their  many  voices  in  singing,  in  some  familiar  tune,  theDoxology. 
The  first  was  a  musical  performance,  the  last  divine  worship. 
In  the  first  the  cultivated  ear  was  regaled  by  the  melody  of 
sweet  sounds;  in  the  last,  when  "that  vast,  concording  unity 
of  the  whole  congregational  chorus"  came,  the  pious  heart  was 
transported  and  wrapt  up  in  high  and  heavenly  contemplations. 

There  is,  to  us,  hardly  anything  in  the  history  of  the  Re- 
formation more  interesting  than  the  influence  which  was  then 
exerted  upon  the  world  by  the  sacred  songs  of  the  Church. 
When  John  Calvin,  availing  himself  of  a  metrical  version  of  a 
few  Psalms,  made  by  Clement  Marot,  introduced  them  into  his 
church  at  Geneva,  and,  abandoning  the  antiphonal  chanting, 
in  which  the  people  took  no  part,  invited  them  all  to  partici- 
pate in  the  singing,  the  effect  was  electric.  The  new  mode  of 
worship  was  welcomed  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Supplying 
a  real  and  felt  want  of  the  soul,  the  hearts  of  the  people  grate- 
fully opened  to  receive  it.  And  "from  Geneva  the  golden 
candlestick  sent  forth  its  rays  far  and  wide.  France  and 
Germany  were  instantly  infatuated  with  a  love  of  psalm-sing- 
ing. The  energetic  hymns  of  Geneva  exhilarated  the  convivial 
assemblies  of  the  Calvinists,  were  commonly  heard  in  the 
streets,  and  accompanied  the  labors  of  the  artificer.  They 
found  their  way  to  the  cities  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  under 
their  inspiration  many  of  the  weavers  and  woollen  manufac- 
turers of  Flanders  left  their  looms  and  entered  the  ministry  of 

the  gospel Hymns  in  the  vernacular  dialects  became 

a  power  in  the  Reformation,  co-ordinate  with  that  of  the  pulpit. 
Upon  the  masses  of  the  people  they  were  far  more  potent  than 
any  other  uninspired  productions  of  the  press.  At  i\.ugsburg, 
in  1551,  three  or  four  thousand  singing  together  at  a  time  was 
"but  a  trifle."  The  youth  of  the  day  sung  them  in  place  of 
ribald  songs;  mothers  sung  them  beside  the  cradle;  journey- 
men and  servants  sung  them  at  their  labor;  market-men  in  the 
streets  and  husbandmen  in  the  fields.*" 

Alas  for  the  contrast  between  this  picture  of  the  power  of 
sacred  song,  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  which  it 

*  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  192. 


22 

presents  in  our  times !  And  can  any  doubt  the  reason  ?  Though 
we  do  not  sing  our  songs  of  Zion,  as  the  Romish  Church  did, 
in  a  dead  language  and  with  alternate  responses,  do  we  not 
almost  equally  with  her  take  away  from  the  people  all  partici- 
pation in  this  part  of  the  service?  Indeed,  how  much  church 
singing  is  there  in  this  day?  What  passes  under  this  name,  is 
it  not  almost  altogether  choir-singing?  How  many  of  our 
Christian  congregations,  in  their  acts  of  public  praise,  obey  the 
command, 

"  Both  young  men  and  maidens, 
Old  men  and  children, 
Let  them  praise  the  name  of  the  Lord  ?" 

Strongly  opposed  as  we  are  to  restraining,  in  any  way,  the 
religious  liberty  of  men,  we,  at  times,  almost  desire  that  some 
authoritative  voice  could  go  out  over  all  our  .churches,  or  some 
ecumenical  council  would  publish  the  decree, 

"Let  the  people  praise  thee,  0  God! 
Let  all  the  peo2)le  praise  thee  I" 

The  second  point  upon  which,  in  this  connection,  we  pro- 
posed some  remarks,  was  the  prayers  of  the  sanctuary. 

We  once  heard  a  Christian  minister,  of  large  experience 
and  discriminating  intellect,  remark  that,  after  listening  to  the 
devotional  exercises  of  a  Presbyterian  pastor  for  a  few  Sab- 
baths, he  could,  with  a  good  degree  of  certainty,  decide  to 
which  of  the  two  great  branches  of  that  Church  he  belonged. 
If  his  prayers  abounded  in  adoration,  the  inference  was  that 
he  was  a  member  of  that  division  of  our  church  which  boasts 
"the  higher  Calvinism"  as  its  creed.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  were  almost  entirely  made  up  of  thanksgiving,  confession 
and  supplication,  he  was  assigned  to  our  own  branch  of  the 
Church.  And  the  philosophical  explanation  of  this  difference 
was  supposed  to  be  found  in  the  alleged  fact,  that  while  the 
former  make  the  sovereignty  of  God  the  stand-point  of  their 
theology,  we  assign  to  man's  free  agency  the  same  pre-emi- 
nence. The  distinction  we  do  not  believe  is  true,  nor  can  we 
admit  the  fact  in  which  its  explanation  is  supposed  to  be  found. 
The  incident,  however,  is  sufficient  to  suggest  what  we  are  in- 
clined to  regard  as  a  very  general  defect  in  public  prayer. 


23 

Should  we  make  an  exhaustive  catalogue  of  all  the  examples 
of  this  kind  of  devotion  recorded  in  the  Bible,  and  carefully  exa- 
mine the  structure  of  each,  we  would  discern  that  adoration 
had  in  them  all  a  large  place.  The  old  prophets,  as  they  ap- 
proached the  throne  of  the  Almighty,  were  abased  by  their 
lofty  conceptions  of  his  greatness,  and  their  first  utterances 
were  always  the  expression  of  this  feeling.  They  applied  to 
God  so  many  different  appellations  that  they  seem  to  us  almost 
like  vain  repetitions,  and  in  the  unfolding  of  any  of  his  perfec- 
tions had  a  manifoldness  of  expression  hardly  suited  to  our 
fastidious  taste.  Their  language  was,  "  The  Lord  is  the  true 
God;  he  is  the  living  God,  and  an  everlasting  king."  (Jer.  x., 
10.)  ''Thou,  even  thou,  art  Lord  alone;  thou  hast  made 
heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens,  with  all  their  host;  the  earth, 
and  all  things  that  are  therein ;  the  seas,  and  all  that  is  therein ; 
and  thou  preservest  them  all;  and  the  host  of  heaven  worship- 
peth  thee."  (Neh.,  ix.,  6.)  The  learned  Lightfoot,  in  speaking 
of  the  prayers  of  the  Jews,  "both  ordinary  and  occasional," 
says  that  "  while  it  cannot  be  denied  but  that  they  had  their 
petitionary  or  supplicatory  prayers,  it  must  still  be  conceded 
that  the  benedictory  or  doxological  prayers  were  more  in  num- 
ber, and  more  large  and  copious."*  And  this  view  of  the  im- 
portance of  adoration  in  prayer,  how  forcibly  is  it  taught  in 
the  standards  of  our  Church!  In  the  chapter  of  our  Directory 
for  Worship  (v.)  entitled  "  Of  Public  Prayer,"  the  following 
are  the  opening  sentences  of  a  most  admirable  analysis  of  this 
part  of  divine  service.  (Section  ii.)  *  *  *  "  It  is  proper 
that,  before  sermon,  there  should  be  a  full  and  comprehensive 
prayer.  First,  adoring  the  glory  and  perfections  of  God,  as 
they  are  made  known  to  us  in  the  works  of  creation,  in  the 
conduct  of  Providence,  and  in  the  clear  and  full  revelation  he 
hath  made  of  himself  in  his  written  word." 

A  more  free  use,  in  prayer,  of  Scriptural  words  and  phrases 
would  also,  we  think,  increase  in  our  sanctuary  service  the  ele- 
ment of  worship.  The  Bible,  when  pertinently  quoted  in  prayer, 
inspires  reverence.  It  is  God's  word,  and  every  man  feels  that 
it  is  peculiarly  appropriate,  in  addressing  Jehovah,  that  he 

*  Lightfoot's  Works,  vol.  xii.,  p.  106. 


24 

should  employ  His  own  language.  Moreover,  inspired  words 
never  become  trite  or  tedious.  They  will  bear  repetition,  as 
no  human  compositions  will.  And  yet,  again,  the  oriental  cast 
of  the  Eible,  its  fervor  and  unction  of  style,  pre-eminently  fit 
it  to  be  the  great  help  of  our  devotion.  Addison  has  beauti- 
fully expressed  this  thought  in  an  essay  in  the  Spectator: 
"  There  is  a  certain  coldness  in  the  phrases  of  European  lan- 
guages, compared  with  the  oriental  forms  of  speech.  The  Eng- 
lish tongue  has  received  innumerable  improvements  from  an 
infusion  of  Hebraisms,  derived  out  of  the  practical  passages  in 
holy  writ.  They  warm  and  animate  our  language,  give  it  force 
and  energy,  and  convey  our  thoughts  in  ardent  and  intense 
phrases.  There  is  something  in  this  kind  of  diction  that  often 
sets  the  mind  in  a  flame,  and  makes  our  hearts  burn  within  us. 
How  cold  and  dead  is  a  prayer  composed  in  the  most  elegant 
forms  of  speech,  when  it  is  not  heightened  by  that  solemnity 
of  phrase  which  may  be  drawn  from  the  sacred  writings!" 

A  more  serious  defect,  and  one  still  more  inimical  to  true 
worship,  is  what  has  aptly  been  called  "indolence  in  prayer." 
Many  seem  to  forget  that  prayer  is  a  mental  exercise.  They 
regard  it  as  altogether  an  inspiration.  Holding  to  the  truth  that 
"  the  preparation  of  the  heart  in  man,  and  the  answer  of  the 
tongue,  is  from  the  Lord,"  they  make  this  indulgence  of  their 
weakness  an  encouragement  of  their  indolence.  They  forget 
that  the  law  of  blessing,  in  this  as  in  other  things,  allies  it,  in 
some  sort,  with  struggles  of  our  own.  Because  a  man  may  pray 
with  the  intellect  without  praying  with  the  heart,  they  infer 
the  converse  that  a  man  may  pray  with  the  heart  without  pray- 
ing with  the  intellect.  Not  a  few  ministers  of  the  gospel,  who 
would  regard  it  as  the  highest  presumption  to  appear  before 
their  people  and  to  attempt  to  preach  without  any  previous  pre- 
paration, trusting  that  "the  Spirit  would  help  their  infirmities," 
do  still  habitually  attempt  to  lead  the  devotions  of  a  whole  con- 
gregation, as  they  approach  the  throne  of  grace,  with  the  un- 
studied and  spontaneous  utterances  of  the  moment.  When  a 
minister  or  layman  is  peculiarly  felicitous  in  leading  the  devo- 
tions of  a  congregation,  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  speak 
of  him  as  being  specially  gifted  in  prayer,  just  as  if  this  capa- 


25 

city,  like  every  other,  was  not  the  reward  of  practiced  effort. 
When  Bishop  Patrick  was  a  young  man,  and  the  rector  of  a 
rural  parish,  he  was  eminent  for  his  fervor  in  prayer.  After 
wearing,  however,  for  a  few  years,  the  lawn  sleeves  and  mitre, 
he  was  actually  constrained  to  apologize  to  an  old  dissenting 
friend,  whose  family  devotions  he  one  morning  led,  for  his 
hesitancy  and  embarrassment.  Men  cannot  have  profound 
feeling  on  any  subject  without  having  previously  had  upon  it 
sound  thought.  Truth  burns  in  the  heart,  after  it  has  been 
pondered  by  the  intellect.  "While  I  was  musing,"  said  David, 
*'the  fire  burned;  then  spake  I  with  my  tongue."  How  a  mi- 
nister can  have  deep  and  genuine  feeling  in  prayer,  when  the 
themes  upon  which  he  dwells  have  not  previously  been  made 
the  subjects  of  careful  thought,  we  confess,  seems  to  us  a  phy- 
siological impossibility. 

And  this  view  of  prayer  is  as  biblical  as  it  is  philosophical. 
The  author  of  "The  Still  Hour,"  after  alluding  to  the  remark 
of  Coleridge,  "  that  he  thought  the  act  of  praying  to  be,  in  its 
most  perfect  form,  the  very  highest  energy  of  which  the  human 
heart  was  capable,"  adds:  "  Many  Scriptural  representations 
of  the  idea  of  devotion  come  up  fully  to  this  mark.  The 
prayer  of  a  righteous  man,  that  availeth  much,  which  our  Eng- 
lish Bible  so  infelicitously  describes  as  *  effectual,  fervent,'  is, 

in  the  original,  an  energetic  prayer,  a  working  prayer 

What  else,  also,  is  the  force  of  the  frequent  conjunction  of 
*  watching'  and  'praying,'  in  the  scriptural  style  of  exhorta- 
tion to  the  duties  of  the  closet?  Thus:  'Watch  and  pray;' 
'watch  unto  prayer;'  'praying  always  and  watching;'  'con- 
tinue in  prayer  and  watch.'  There  is  no  mental  lassitude,  no 
self-indulgence,  here.  It  was  a  lament  of  the  prophet  over  the 
degeneracy  of  God's  people,  'None  stirreth  himself  up  to  take 
hold  on  thee.'  Paul  exhorts  the  Romans  to  'strive  toojether 
with  their  prayers,'  and  commends  an  ancient  preacher  to 
the  confidence  of  the  Colossians  as  one  who  labored  fervently 
in  prayers.     There  is  no  droning  or  drawling  effort  here."* 

But,  with  regard  to  public  prayer,  in  its  connection  with 
worship  as  an  element  of  sanctuary  service,  we  have  one  other 

*  The  Still  Hour,  pp.  70  and  71.  * 


26 

remark  to  make;  and,  though  some  of  our  readers  may  regard 
it  as  unimportant,  if  not  trivial,  we  cannot,  ourselves,  thus 
esteem  it.  In  entering  upon  this  part  of  the  service  of  God's 
house  there  should  be,  with  every  worshipper,  a  change  of  phy- 
sical position,  and  the  assumption  of  a  reverential  posture.  We 
say,  first,  a  change  of  position,  to  indicate,  by  some  outward 
act,  the  inward  approach  of  the  soul  to  God;  and,  secondly, 
the  assumption  of  a  reverential  posture;  for  such  is  certainly 
His  due,  before  whom  even  angels  veil  their  faces.  Much  dis- 
cussion has  been  had  as  to  what  is  the  precise  posture  that  a 
congregation  should  assume  in  prayer;  but,  supposing  that 
regard  is  had  to  both  of  the  points  just  referred  to — that  the 
posture  is  reverential,  and  is  a  change  from  that  assumed  by 
the  assembly  in  the  other  parts  of  service — we  cannot  regard 
this  discussion  as  important.  Few  things,  however,  are  more 
fatal  to  worship  than  that  entire  passivity  which  leads  a  con- 
gregation never  once  to  change  its  posture,  from  the  invocation 
to  the  benediction.  This  custom,  now  so  prevalent  in  many  of 
our  religious  assemblies,  is  a  twin  error  to  choir-singing.  They 
generally  go  along  hand  in  hand :  they  are  seldom  found  alone. 
But  that  will  be  a  happy  day  to  the  Church  when  upon  both 
she  will  indignantly  frown. 

In  closing  this  Article  we  cannot  refrain  from  inviting  the 
special  attention  of  our  readers  to  a  thought  which,  although  it 
has  appeared  all  along  the  line  of  our  argument,  is  still  worthy 
of  a  separate  and  distinct  notice.  The  thought  is  this:  All 
that  is  necessary  to  give  to  worship,  as  an  element  of  sanctuary 
service,  its  true  importance,  is  a  full  and  faithful  development 
of  that  order  which  is  embodied  in  our  own  Directory  for  Wor- 
ship, We  frankly  confess  our  sympathy  with  those  who,  upon 
retiring  from  some  of  our  Presbyterian  churches,  after  their 
Sabbath  services  are  over,  feel  a  measure  of  dissatisfaction. 
They  have,  indeed,  been  well  instructed,  but  they  have  not 
worshipped.  They  have  been  in  a  school,  rather  than  in  a 
church.  Their  intellects  have  been  fed,  but  their  hearts  have 
not  been  touched.  They  have  had  nothing  to  do  in  the  service. 
But  what,  to  meet  this  felt  want,  shall  they  do?  Go  elsewhere? 
Unite  themselves  with  some  liturgical  church,  though  her  doc- 


27 

trines  and  ministerial  orders  are  opposed  to  their  belief?  Or, 
staying  at  home,  shall  they  seek  to  graft  upon  the  Presbyterian 
Church  what  is  unscriptural  and  opposed  both  to  her  spirit  and 
history?  Whence  this  lack  of  true  worship  in  her  services? 
What  is  the  cause  of  this  deficiency,  of  which  some  complain? 
Is  it  inherent  to  her  very  structure?  Is  it  of  her  essence,  or 
simply  a  defect  in  her  administration?  We  are  bold  to  pro- 
claim the  latter.  Let  every  minister  and  layman  carefully 
study  our  Directory  for  Worship,  and,  in  the  services  of  God's 
house,  faithfully  carry  out  all  its  provisions,  and  every  just 
ground  for  criticism  in  this  particular  will,  we  are  sure,  be  re- 
moved. W^orship  and  instruction,  the  two  great  elements  of 
sanctuary  service,  will  then  have  to  each  other  their  just  rela- 
tions. Neither  will  be  unduly  or  disproportionably  developed, 
but  both  in  such  beautiful  symmetry  as  to  make  the  whole  ap- 
pear but  one  act  of  grateful  homage  to  Jehovah,  just  as  a  star, 
really  binary,  looks  out  upon  us  from  the  skies — one  world. 


I 

11 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Makers 
Syracijse,  N.  Y. 

PIT.  JAN  21,  1908 


